Spotlight

It's sad to think that there will be a time very soon when Spotlight will be considered a capsule of a specific time period.  I'm not talking about the era the film is set in (2001/2002), I'm talking about the period of investigative journalism.  Social media has more or less taken over, and just about anyone can break a story with their camera phone.  True investigative journalism is on the brink of becoming extinct, and this movie is an intimate and powerful love letter to that way of writing.

What surprised me the most about the film is that this is not so much about the investigation into the sexual abuse scandal surrounding the Massachusetts Roman Catholic Church, as it is about the process of that investigation, and the process of journalism in general.  The real threat here that the characters face are deadlines and roadblocks that stand in the way of these characters uncovering more of the truth.  What I appreciated is the small, realistic touches that the movie puts throughout.  The main characters in the film seem like regular people doing their jobs.  They are not glorified, or seen as being bigger than they are.  They work long hours, they sift through piles of information, sometimes their pens don't work when they want to write something down...These are the kind of things I love in a movie.  I love seeing what really goes on in a job being depicted in the story.  Yes, the story itself is captivating enough, but the little touches of realism were just as engaging to me.

The plot covers the efforts of the investigative "Spotlight" team at the Boston Globe to uncover allegations of cover ups of sexual abuse surrounding the Catholic Church.  The team includes editor Walter "Robby" Robinson (Michael Keaton), as well as reporters Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), and Matt Carroll (Brian d'Arcy James).  As they begin their investigation and start questioning people either tied to past investigation attempts (which went nowhere) or former victims who claim they had sexual experiences with priests as young boys, they start to notice a massive cover up.  The priests responsible were usually shuffled to another city to continue their work if they were caught, and those that were caught were usually described as leaving their position because of "sick leave" or some other vague reason.  The initial number of possible cases starts around 4 to 13, but as the investigation deepens, that number rises to a shocking 90.  The cover up of the church's actions goes much deeper than anyone initially realized, and when the story finally broke in the Boston Globe in 2002, it began a worldwide investigation.

This is a story that easily could have led to a lot of melodrama and courtroom scenes in the Hollywood telling, but co-writer and director Tom McCarthy plays things much simpler and honest.  The movie hardly ever leaves the newspaper building, except for when one of the reporters has to interview a former victim or a lawyer.  While the abuse scandal is constantly the subject of conversation, it is not the focus of the film itself.  This movie deals more with the frustrations these reporters faced during the investigation.  At one point, there is a brief blow up between Walter and Mike about whether they should go forward with the story with the information that they currently have.  Mike wants to go full speed ahead, while Walter warns that the church could easily cover it up, and that they need to do more investigating.  The interest and drama that Spotlight creates is about the process of getting the story, and the interviews.

You would think that the limited scope of the film would make it feel small, but it only makes the movie feel focused.  Rather than attempt to cover the entire scandal story and how wide it spreads, it focuses simply on the early beginnings, and that is really the best approach here.  There are a number of small, powerful moments throughout the film, such as when Sacha briefly interviews a former accused priest, and he almost seems to be justifying his actions.  What I also loved about the approach the film takes is that there is no one lead character.  Even with big acting names like Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo in the cast, nobody really ever gets to take more of the attention from anyone else.  This is an ensemble picture through and through, and each member of the investigative team gets a number of individual moments.  It's a fantastic cast, though, and definitely one of the best acted films of the year.

Not only that, it's possibly the very best of the year.  Spotlight is a pitch-perfect drama in just about every way you can think of.  This movie is one of those small cinematic miracles where everything truly comes together to create a satisfying film.  It's always a wonder to see it happen, and you find yourself wondering why it doesn't happen more often when it's over.  Whatever the case, this is a movie that demands attention and deserves to be seen.

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